this post was submitted on 29 Nov 2023
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Your friend tells you about his new job:
He sits at a computer and a bunch of nonsense symbols are shown on the screen. He has to guess which symbol comes next. At first he was really bad at it, but over time he started noticing patterns; the symbol that looks like 2 x's connected together is usually followed by the symbol that looks like a staff.
Once he started guessing accurately on a regular basis they started having him guess more symbols that follow. Now he's got the hang of it and they no longer tell him if he's right or not. He has no idea why, it's just the job they have him.
He shows you his work one day and you tell him those symbols are Chinese. He looks at you like you're an idiot and says "nah man, it's just nonsense. It does follow a pattern though: this one is next."
That is what LLM are doing.
I would disagree that AI knows nothing. I use ChatGPT plus near daily to code and it went from a hallucinating mess to what feels like a pretty competent and surprisingly insightful service in the months I have been using it. With the rumblings of Q* it only looks like it is getting better. AI knows a lot and very much seems to understand, albeit far from perfect but it surprises me all the time. It is almost like a child who is beyond their years in reading and writing but does not yet have enough life experience to really understand what it is reading and writing…yet.